From Bobbie Sellers@3:633/10 to All on Wed Nov 19 10:27:22 2025
'Dead Lies Dreaming" by Charles Stross
380 pages, ? 2020, a Tordotcom book at $29.99
a Tom Doherty Associates book.
This is my second reading of this book.
It was not until the Imp and his band found
the door into dreamland that I remembered
that I had read it. Then I forged ahead despite
memories of the previous reading. I think
I enjoyed it more this time and this is the first
review of it I have done since I did not know
of r.a.SF.written at the time.
Eve Starky is employed by Rupert Bigge.
The Black Pharaoh is the Prime Minister having returned
to Earth in the big finish of the original Laundry Files as
due to computers the level of magic on Earth has gone
high enough to support an Entity like that. He has
a pyramid of skulls and executes people for the sake
of his power having returned the UK to the worst
of its legal periods. Imp and his merry band of
larcenous transhumans (able to use magic) are trying
to steal enough money to film a major production.
Imp is also Jeremy Stary, younger brother to Eve.
Rupert Bigge owns the Island of Skaro where he
is head of the cult of the Mute Poet who is a nastier
piece of work than the Black Pharaoh.
Rupert is a pretty nasty character who has
lured Eve into a job as his private secretary and
involved her in crimes that would lead to her
execution so she is forced to stay in his employ.
He orders her to obtain a rare Spell Book which
is cursed. People who pick it up without proper
ownership or need to return it to the proper
owner die. And there is no evidence of the
death after the book feeds.
It is long romp in the magical lands of the
horrid reality of the Black Pharaoh and in the
dream of a Past full of nightmares.
It is excellent and has a happier ending than
one could expect.